Doctors lobbied to recognise eating disorders quicker

Campaigners have used the start of 'Eating Disorders Awareness Week' to call for more to be done to help those suffering with a dietary condition.

Among those lobbying for a change is charity Beat, which has formed an allegiance with Cosmopolitan magazine in a bid to encourage doctors to take eating disorders much more seriously. This, it is hoped, would stop the problem before it develops into something much more life threatening.

These campaigns come after official statistics signalled an eight per cent rise in the number of hospital admissions for eating conditions such as anorexia or bulimia. Not only that, much of this rise came from the under-15 age group, with some of those treated even being as young as five, nottinghampost.com reports.

Another group thought to suffer disproportionately highly was those from more privileged backgrounds. With aspirational parents pushing their children to be the best they can be, many are inadvertently ushering them towards potentially devastating eating conditions. This trend has even seen some claim that Britain's independent schools are witnessing an anorexia "epidemic".

Commenting on her own experience of the condition, theguardian.com blogger Daisy Buchanan explained: "Counselling helped me overcome anorexia - I was lucky that my school had an enlightened attitude to mental health.

"My compassionate therapist didn't try to guess my motives, but made me realise I was missing out on all sorts of teenage fun because I was so fixated on getting the most A*s and into the smallest jeans."